Etiological surveillance of hand foot and mouth disease in Jinzhou city in Liaoning province, 2008-2011

Objective To learn about the etiological characteristics of hand foot and mouth disease(HFMD)in Jinzhou and provide evidence for the prevention and control of the disease. Methods The etiological detection was conducted by using 330 samples, including 274 throat swabs and 56 stool samples, collected from 294 clinical confirmed HFMD cases in Jinzhou from 2008 to 2011. Results Among the 294 HFMD cases, the overall detection rate of enteriovirus was 83.67%. The detection rate of EV71 was 30.61%, the detection rate of Cox A16 was 32.31%, the co-infection rate of EV71 and Cox A16 was 0.34% and the detection rate of other enterovirus was 20.41%. Among the 330 samples, the defection rate in throat swabs was 82.12%(225/274), the detection rate in stool samples was 71.43%(40/56). No difference was found on the detection rate between throat swabs and stool samples which was tested by different methods and different reagents(P>0.05). Conclusion EV71 and Cox A16 were the major pathogens to cause hand foot and mouth disease in children in Jinzhou, although the predominance was slightly different in each year. The infection rate of other enterovirus was in increasing year by year. There was no significant difference on the detection rate between throat swabs and stool samples collected from HFMD patients.